NEWS FROM THE JAW JOINTS & ALLIED MUSCULO-SKELETAL
DISORDERS FOUNDATION and THE FORSYTH INSTITUTE
140 The Fenway
·
Contact: Renée
Glass, 617-266-2550 or TMJoints@aol.com
Contact: Jennifer Kelly,
617-892-8602 or jkelly@forsyth.org
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Seminar Launches Post Doctoral Fellowship to Study Temporomandibular Muscle and Joint Disorders
Fellowship is to understand the
disease, prevent it, and identify effective therapies for its treatment.
It also provides a unique opportunity to promote awareness, prevention, and
education related to TMJD in children.
Hosted by Dominick P. DePaola, D.D.S., Ph.D., President and CEO of Forsyth, the
seminar began with an inspirational speech by the fellowship’s creators: Milton
and Renée Glass, Co-Founders & Co-Presidents of the Jaw Joints & Allied
Musculo-Skeletal Disorders Foundation. Mr. and Mrs.
Glass provided an eye-opening account of how TMJD is often misdiagnosed and the
people it affects are often misunderstood and disenfranchised. They emphasized
the need to fund basic scientific research and discovery so that patients have
better treatment in the short term — and in the long term, a cure. The
Fellowship is intended to explore developmental aspects of the TMJ, with
recognition of its diseases.
The opening lecture, “TMJ Research:
From the Clinic to the Laboratory and Back Again” was given by Bjorn R. Olsen,
M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Olsen is the Hersey Professor of Cell
Biology at Harvard Medical School and the Dean for Research and Professor in
the Department of Developmental Biology at
After
giving a quick summary of current TMJD treatments and their shortcomings, Dr.
Olsen offered up more promising looks into how the disease can be
treated. Dr. Olsen shared his extensive research of the Temporomandibular Joint’s characteristics (providing an
understanding of how healthy TMJs work) and then
delved into the symptoms and risk factors for TMJD patients. Using case studies
and models, Dr. Olsen presented various potential causes of TMJD. He
asserted that if certain underlying processes could be inhibited, so too could
the disease. Noted Dr. Olsen, “We don’t have to necessarily
wipe out TMJD. We need only to slow it to the point where patients
die from other natural causes before any impairment from TMJD might
develop. That would mean success.”
Following Dr. Olsen was Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D., the Director of National Institute of
Dental and Craniofacial Research. His lecture was entitled: “The Role of NIH in
Catalyzing Multi- and Interdisciplinary Research on Temporomandibular
Muscle and Joint Diseases.”
Dr. Tabak
began his speech declaring that when it comes to treating TMJD, people can make
a difference. He underscored that people who advocate for TMJD research do so
for the benefit of all patients. The key, he said, to successfully treating
TMJD was an “Interdisciplinary Approach” involving a range of professionals
such as: molecular biologists, mathematicians, sociologists, dentists, and
physicians. Dr. Tabak also pointed out that it takes
significant time and resources to assemble interdisciplinary teams. Said Dr. Tabak, “It’s going to take investigators who are brave…who
are willing to do the unconventional…and take risks.” He called to action the
young people in the audience in particular to take advantage of the little that
is known about TMJD, and begin formulating new ways to discover what isn’t
known or evident in the current literature.
Dr. Tabak
spoke of NIH’s commitment to supporting new and
innovative efforts to promote oral systemic health, and TMJD in particular.
Under the auspices of NIDCR, collaboration has begun with the TMJD interagency
working group, a large number of other NIH institutes, patient advocacy
organizations and others. Said Dr. Tabak,
“It’s a big job and one agency alone can’t do it. We need to work
together to create a future where TMJ Disorders no longer exists.”
The seminar ended with Dr. DePaola from Forsyth Institute and Milton and Renée Glass
presenting Dr. Olsen and Dr. Tabak with an award for
their assistance in launching the post doctoral fellowship, on behalf of The
Forsyth Institute and Jaw Joints & Allied Musculo-Skeletal
Disorders Foundation.
***
The Forsyth Institute (www.forsyth.org)
is the world’s leading independent organization dedicated to improving human
health through innovative research and education in oral and craniofacial biology
and related biomedical sciences. The
Jaw Joints & Allied Musculo-Skeletal Disorders
Foundation